Well, well. Seems we’ve got a wealth of free creativity for y’all today. As luck would have it, there’s two free compilations up for grabs, and a bunch of the artists are from Brooklyn. The first is a collection of remixes called There Will Always Be Echos, courtesy of the local label Moodgadget. It’s comprised of mostly delicate sounding, downtempo instrumental hip hop, and features the likes of Machinedrum, Praveen, Mux Mool, and dungeon master Mogi Grumbles. Second is the unfortunately titled Secret Hangout, Vol. 2, released by Turntable Lab, one of the few remaining record stores around here. This one veers toward the funk and disco side of things and includes selections by Michna, Cosmo Baker, and DJ Ayres. It’s even got a moombahton track by Sabo. To get Secret, you need to visit their digital store and enter the “newfriend” promo code. Below are our picks from each joint. (Photo by Jon Damaschke.)

Remixes that simply aim to take a particular song and turn it into a preferred genre are usually lazy efforts worth ignoring. And when it comes to wubstep remixes of gangsta rap joints, there’s even more reason to be skeptical. But this Rick Ross bootleg remix by Dubspot’s DJ Subset won us over after a few listens and seemed worth sharing. It’s a rather simple beat - some crunchy, intimidating bass stabs and some subtle wobbles. But it matches the lyrics in complexity, swagger and mood. (Artwork by AVone and Pomer.)

This substantive dub scrub is an auspicious start for Brooklyn’s Smoke Machine. His first release is a quick footed commute through a series of short melodies using a variety of instrumentation; a broad collection of dubbed out effects employed for atmosphere, accents, and melodic touches; and rich sounding percussion that dips and dives in a sea of echos and delay. It’s a near total rework of a song by Brooklyn indie electronic band Destronauts - the original being a bit dubby itself, but grounded mostly in a trip hop, fuzzy shoegaze feel. (Image by Leonid Ershov.)

Bleeding genre downbeat for 2010 from Throwing Snow aiming toward that fringe area where a loose preference for similar moods and sound palette are all that’s asked. Hovering around an inclination towards the beat scene blanketed in a fresh coat of garage and dubstep rhythms. Warm and deep like a walk in a windless snow storm. Giant flakes flutter about, insulating sound and emphasizing its size while keeping the cold at bay, the bright white imbued with an amber glow by streetlights. The featured track was originally posted on Req Effect but is liberated from file sharing land at the word of its creator. Peep dude’s free Greymatter remix and recent Ho Tep release as well. (Painting by Jeff Demetriou.)

We’re not the first to be reminded of the ’90s by Freddie Gibbs, but it’s worth saying again. A lot of his beats recall the era’s many facets, but the way he spits has a similar quality too. In a laid back mood, he flips densely packed rhymes facilitating gloomy goon stories encased in daily struggles. But it’s less intentionally a throwback than it is simply heavily influenced. The Gary, Indiana, bred emcee has been brightly shining on our radar since “The Ghetto“. And Str8 Killa, his new EP released this month, brings a similar aura. The lead track, “National Anthem (Fuck The World)”, has a hook that limits it - but the verses are fire, switching up in delivery and building in intensity every few bars or so. It’s available free on RCRDLBL. The two tracks below are also from the EP, and were released in low bit rate mixed versions from his recent mixtape, Str8 Killa No Filla. Despite the title, the mix mosdef has some filler, but not these two. (Photo by Alex Welsh).

Jersey City roots reggae to be precise. This is one of those rare times when music from an actual CD made it onto our hard drive and into your RSS reader. Plastic discs usually pose a hurdle to Culture System’s musical consumption. But once Kiwi made it out of the growing stack, “Cherry Tree” presented itself. All of the song’s various elements bask in the warmth of a consistent bassline, soaking up its brisk rhythm. It begins with a series of subtle notes and stabs mixed with a diverse, rich percussion before moving on to some nice vocals and clever rhymes. Then it bursts into a horn melody which serves as the lead into an elongated, rather melodic rub a dub session. Very happy to have found this one. (Image by Candas Sisman.)

Ion the Last Don has once again laced us with some fire. This time he’s on the funky bashment tip, employing some Vybz lyrics to sauce up his new riddim. Sub level stabs dance in circles, slipping skillfully between the syncopation, all punctuated by the crash of cymbals. Steel drum derived loops escalate the bounce, magnifying the sun powered energy of Vybz’s dense rhymes. If you had ‘liked’ our fledgling Facebook page, you’d have gotten this before everyone else - albeit minus the verbiage and visuals. (Image by Hannah Liongoren)

If you’re at home listening to this, it’s perfectly normal to dance with your refrigerator or whatever. This whiteboy is mosdef the king of knee ups, if our experience during his Turrbotax set last month was any indication. Doc Daneeka’s “Popkorn remix” uses Khalifa-sized bass drums, hype syncopation, sirens and a slew of other madness to make people walking by outside our window add some bounce to their step. Yesterday, he cheffed up a mix for The Queen of England, AKA Mary Anne Hobbs, so go scoop that up for more. And don’t sleep on his label, Ten Thousand Yen, which will drop some CRST next. Wait who? (Image by Jose Carcavilla.) [UPDATE: Brownswood Recordings, who will be releasing the track but originally let it run free in the interwebs, has decided to coax it back. So we've been asked to take the MP3 down, but it's now available for streaming on our YouTube page.]

KRTS’s take on “1nce Again” isn’t really a remix. The track is more an original production affectionately sampling some vocals from the classic Tribe Called Quest joint. Like many of the other songs on the mixtape that this joint comes from, Kurtis explores rhythms and tempos outside his usual boom bap affiliation. Jumping in at 1:20, “Housed Once Again” begins with a string of polyrhythms worthy of “K.I.M.” Next, homie flips a series of warm, soulful synths that build and build, switching between the atmospheric and the melodic. His penchant for rockin the piano is present as usual, except that it’s more reserved - acting as a support rather than a contrasting element. (We’re trying not to get nostalgic over the vocals, but damn that positivity meant a lot!) Catch KRTS on July 16 at Coco66 alongside Uproot Andy and Cumba Mela for the iBomba party. Also, be sure to grab another of our favorite songs of his, “Dreamin’“. (Image by Edward Babb.)

Brenmar’s Cassie remix starts as an unambiguous house track with vocals that come off as expected. But pretty quickly he flips a bunch of layers that open it up to numerous possible associations, making it more widely accessible and interesting. The sound palette is subtle enough to allow its own unique categorization too. Low frequency pop melodies mixed with triple XL house stabs ride over conga, clapper, and tambourine polyrhythms while Cassie’s voice readily lets you know how good things could be. Someone needs to throw this joint on Youtube over the original video. (Image by Tom Bagshaw.)